Latest update January 15th, 2025 3:34 AM
Guyanese sues Delta after wrongfully busted for coke
-Suitcase had been breached here in 2010
(NY Post) A former Yankee Stadium security guard, who was wrongfully busted for cocaine possession at Kennedy Airport in 2010 is suing Delta Airlines, claiming that they allowed his luggage to be tampered with en route from Guyana.
Roger Levans
Five years after the incident, the case kicked off Monday with opening statements in Brooklyn federal court.
Roger Levans was charged with trying to smuggle cocaine into Kennedy on De c. 29, 2010, after customs agents found three bricks of the drug in his luggage.
The otherwise mundane case drew headlines at the time, because Levans curiously told officers that his luggage contained “cooked rabbit” and other food items before they found the drugs.
“The federal prosecutor determined that the plaintiff’s luggage had been tampered with while in the sole custody of the defendant and the charges against defendant were subsequently dropped,” according to his Brooklyn federal lawsuit. But after a three-month investigation into the case, all charges were dropped against Levans when the feds determined that his suitcases had been broken into.
Levans claimed that the lock on the piece of luggage that contained the coke had been broken and replaced with a ribbon – and prosecutors agreed.
But in his lawsuit against Delta, Levans said the damage was already done before the charges were dropped.
“As a result of his arrest on federal drug charges, the plaintiff was terminated from his job by Guardsmark and was told not to return to Yankee Stadium,” according to his suit.
Levans had a “stellar” record as a security guard at the famed venue and was “entrusted to guard the executive portion of the stadium” before getting sacked.
“While the charges had been dropped, Plaintiff has been unable to reemploy with Guardsmark despite his best efforts,” papers state. “He has also been ostracized in his community.”
Levans filed suit against Delta Airlines in 2012, claiming that they were negligent in securing his luggage during its transport from Guyana to Queens, and should be held responsible for his ensuing misfortune.
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